Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Causes of America’s Housing Crisis

A century of policy mistakes ruined America’s cities and created an unprecedented housing crisis.

For many families, homelessness is no longer someone else’s problem. It is right around the corner, a real threat in their own immediate future. Our housing crisis is the result of a long history of government policies, court cases, and political manipulation. While these disparate causes make up a tangled web, they have one surprising root: the attack on private property rights. For more than a century, government policies and court decisions have attacked, undermined, and eroded private property rights. Whether it be exclusionary zoning, eminent domain abuse, rent control, or excessive environmental regulations, the cumulative impact of these assaults on private property is that it’s become increasingly difficult--or even impossible--to build adequate housing supplies to meet market demands. We are fast approaching a time when millions of typical Americans will, quite literally, have nowhere to live.

Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis, takes readers through the history of how we got here. With stories going back to the Civil War, the early twentieth century, and the ill-fated ＂urban renewal＂ movement of the 1950s, Nowhere to Live reveals how the government layered mistake upon mistake to create the current crisis. It also provides a way out: not by government fiat, but through the restoration of private property rights.

James S. Burling is vice president for Legal Affairs at Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento. He has argued cases nationwide including before the Supreme Court. He received a BA from Hamilton College, a MS from Brown University, and a JD from the University of Arizona. He has spoken and written about property rights nationwide.